FY19 Advanced Manufacturing Office Multi-Topic FOA | DE FOA 0001980

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0001980

The FY19 Advanced Manufacturing Office Multi-Topic FOA (DE-FOA-0001980) is a U.S. Department of Energy funding opportunity run through the DOE Golden Field Office to support early-stage to mid-stage applied research and development in advanced manufacturing. The core purpose is to push manufacturing technologies that can meaningfully improve energy efficiency and competitiveness in U.S. industry, especially where energy costs strongly influence production economics. The FOA emphasizes high-impact, foundational platform technologies, meaning innovations that can be reused across many products and sectors rather than one-off solutions tied to a single niche application. Awards are issued as cooperative agreements, which typically means DOE expects active involvement during the project (for example, through technical direction, milestone reviews, and coordination), rather than simply providing a grant with minimal interaction.

The opportunity targets “next-generation” manufacturing advances across materials, information, and process technology, with a clear focus on energy-intensive and energy-dependent manufacturing steps. In practical terms, DOE is looking for projects that can reduce the energy required to make industrial products, shorten process time, improve yield, and strengthen U.S. manufacturing resilience. The R and D scope is described as innovative and early-stage, so projects are expected to be developmental and risk-tolerant, but still grounded in credible technical plans and measurable outcomes.

The FOA is organized into three main topic areas. Topic 1, Innovations for the Manufacture of Advanced Materials, aims to speed up and improve how advanced materials relevant to energy applications are designed, validated, and produced. Subtopic 1.1 focuses on accelerating the manufacturing process design and development cycle for advanced energy conversion and storage materials, essentially reducing the time and cost needed to go from lab-scale material ideas to manufacturable processes. Subtopic 1.2 targets innovative manufacturing processes for battery energy storage, which can include improvements in how battery components are made, assembled, or scaled while reducing energy use and increasing throughput and quality. Subtopic 1.3 covers development of nanocrystalline metal alloys and the associated manufacturing processes, reflecting interest in alloys with very fine grain structures that can deliver superior strength or performance but may be challenging to produce consistently at scale. Subtopic 1.4 addresses process-informed science, design, and engineering for materials and devices operating in harsh service conditions, meaning environments like high temperature, corrosive, high-stress, or otherwise extreme operating regimes where conventional materials and manufacturing approaches may fail or degrade.

Topic 2, Lower Thermal Budget (LTB) Processes for Industrial Efficiency and Productivity, concentrates on reducing the amount of heat and thermal energy required in common industrial operations. Thermal processing is a major source of energy consumption in manufacturing, so “lower thermal budget” approaches are meant to cut temperatures, shorten heating cycles, reduce dwell times, or otherwise shrink the energy footprint of production. Subtopic 2.1 focuses on advances in industrial and process drying, a widespread and often energy-heavy step in industries such as chemicals, paper, textiles, food, and coatings. Subtopic 2.2 focuses on thermal process intensification, which generally refers to redesigning thermal steps to achieve the same or better output with less energy, smaller equipment footprints, higher rates, and better heat integration.

Topic 3, Connected, Flexible and Efficient Manufacturing Facilities and Energy Systems, shifts attention from single processes to the broader facility energy ecosystem. This topic supports technologies that help factories manage electricity and thermal energy more intelligently, remain productive during grid disturbances, and integrate on-site generation or district energy systems. Subtopic 3.1 is about medium-voltage power conditioning systems that enable grid-dispatchable and resilient manufacturing facilities, reflecting interest in equipment that can interface with the grid at medium voltage, manage power quality, and support flexible operations (including potentially providing grid services while maintaining manufacturing reliability). Subtopic 3.2 targets high power-to-heat ratio, high-efficiency combined heat and power (CHP), emphasizing systems that can produce a lot of electricity relative to useful heat while operating efficiently. Subtopic 3.3 covers verification and validation of CHP and district energy, indicating DOE interest not only in new hardware but also in credible methods, tools, and procedures to confirm performance, reliability, and real-world energy savings for integrated energy systems.

From an applicant standpoint, eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning the FOA is broadly open to many entity types (subject to any specific clarifications in the full announcement). The anticipated scale is substantial: an award ceiling of up to $12,000,000 per award is stated, and DOE projected around 55 awards. Key dates included a creation date of May 7, 2019, a mandatory concept paper due June 20, 2019, and an original application closing date of August 29, 2019. The concept paper requirement matters because DOE typically uses it to screen alignment with topic goals before full applications are submitted, helping both applicants and DOE avoid wasted effort on non-responsive proposals.

Applications and submissions are handled through EERE Exchange, DOE’s online submission portal, which enforces deadlines automatically by disabling the Apply and Submit buttons at the cutoff times. The FOA points applicants to the DE-FOA-0001980 AMO 2019 FAQ Log on EERE Exchange for official questions and answers. It also stresses that applicants should not wait until the last minute to upload materials, since network traffic often spikes near the deadline. If technical problems arise before the deadline, applicants are directed to contact the EERE Exchange helpdesk at EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov for assistance. If a severe technical issue prevents on-time submission, the same helpdesk process is described, including the possibility that system administrators can help finalize submission with the applicant’s concurrence, though DOE cautions that last-minute upload failures due to heavy traffic are not a reliable basis for relief.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as DOE AMO’s 2019 effort to seed a portfolio of applied manufacturing innovations that can lower industrial energy use, improve productivity, and strengthen the technology base for advanced materials and efficient facilities. The structure of the topics shows a balance between (1) making advanced energy-relevant materials manufacturable, (2) cutting the energy intensity of heat-driven industrial steps, and (3) modernizing how factories generate, condition, and validate energy systems so manufacturing can be both efficient and resilient.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY19 Advanced Manufacturing Office Multi-Topic FOA" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.086.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 07, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 29, 2019 A mandatory Concept Paper is due 06/20/2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $12,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 55 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for DE FOA 0001980

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